Australian creative Dave Shirlaw will take over from Saatchi &
Saatchi Vietnam creative director Paul Ewen, who leaves in mid-December
for a six-month stint at the agency's London office before he takes up a
new assignment with the network.
Shirlaw was attached with Saatchi Sydney after leaving the US, where the
network had shuttered its San Francisco operations.
Shirlaw, who has also worked with Saatchi Vietnam general manager Mike
Rebelo in Australia, will head a largely local creative team.
Ewen said the agency built up local creative talent from scratch since
receiving its joint-venture licence in the late '90s.
The office has 28 staff and only two - Ewen and Rebelo - are
expatriates.
"It is a very young office overall. I was 25 years old when I started as
creative director and Mike was 27 when he started as general
manager.
"Most of the Vietnamese staff are also quite young and many have been
with us since the office first opened," said Ewen, who has been in
Vietnam for the past four years.
Ewen said the country now boasted some very fine Vietnamese creative
talent.
"When I first got here we were seeing the first Vietnamese copywriters
coming through. The good news now is that there are some very good
Vietnamese people in copy-writing and art direction, who have grown by
leaps and bounds."
Saatchi, according to Ewen, invested heavily in developing its local
creative talent, including providing out-of-country training attachments
at its offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
Ewen said he was heartened to see local creative talent, including those
who have worked with the agency, branch out and set up their own
operations.
The agency has won about 30 international creative awards for a number
of brands, including Procter & Gamble's Head & Shoulders shampoo
brand.
The 'Conical hairstyle' poster it produced for Head & Shoulders'
sponsorship of a hair-styling show in the country, received a finalist
certificate at Cannes.
Apart from P&G, its client list includes Foster's beer, and Italian
scooter maker Piaggio.
The office is also working on a campaign for Vietnam's Department of
Planning and Investment to drum up foreign investment in the country.
